Steady laminar mixed convection flow and heat transfer to Newtonian and power-law fluids from a heated square cylinder has been analyzed numerically. The full momentum and energy equations along with the Boussinesq approximation to simulate the buoyancy effects have been solved. A semi-explicit finite volume method with nonuniform grid has been used for the range of conditions as: Reynolds number 1–30, power-law index: 0.8–1.5, Prandtl number 0.7–100 $(Pe⩽3000)$ for Richardson number 0–0.5 in an unbounded configuration. The drag coefficient and the Nusselt number have been reported for a range of values of the Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and Richardson number for Newtonian, shear-thickening $(n>1)$ and shear-thinning $(n<1)$ fluids. In addition, detailed streamline and isotherm contours are also presented to show the complex flow field, especially in the rear of the cylinder. The effects of Prandtl number and of power-law index on the Nusselt number are found to be more pronounced than that of buoyancy parameter $(Ri⩽0.5)$ for a fixed Reynolds number in the steady cross-flow regime $(Re⩽30)$.

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